Tilting electric flatiron



June 24, 1947. M SCHARA 2,422,856

TILTING YELECTRIC: FLATIRON Filed May 18, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 24,1947. EI M, SCHARA 2,422,856

TILTING ELECTRIC FLATIRON Filed May 18, 1944 mgm@ @MKM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Patented June 24, 1947 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE TILTING ELECTRICFLATIRON Earl Martin Schar-a, Washington, D. C., assignor of one-half toWilliam B. Croney, Chicago, Ill.

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to flatirons and particularly to that typeof atiron primarily intended for hand use and so designed that itsheated working surface will be automatically raised out of contact withthe goods being ironed when the operator releases the handle by means ofwhich the iiatiron is manipulated.

Various types of flatirons equipped with means to automatically effect;disengagement of the heated ironing surface from the goods being actedupon have heretofore been designed or suggested, but such iiatirons havenot come into widespread use for one reason or another. It is, ofcourse, one necessary prerequisite of a flatiron which is intended to behand operated that its weight be maintained relatively low in order thatit shall not unduly tire the user. It has been found, for instance, thata fiatiron the Weight of which is greater than siX pounds is, generallyspeaking, unsuitable for domestic use. For this and other reasons it hasbeen generally found to be irnpractical to provide a flatiron with anoverhalancing weight to effect the upward tilting or lifting of theworking surface thereof. Generally speaking also, other mechanismsprovided for automatically disengaging the heated working surface of aiiatiron from the goods being acted upon have not become popular. Itwill be appreciated by all of those who use atirons that such irons mustbe simple, preferably having no moving parts, and that they must be oflight Weight.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a flatiron ofthe automatically up-tilting type which is of such character as to fullymeet all requirements of the users thereof; which will functionautomatically when released, is light in weight so as not to be tiringeven though used over considerable periods of time, which em bodies nomechanism such as spring-pressed lifting devices for effecting theup-tilting and which is rugged in construction and attractive inappearance. The improved flatiron has two workengaging surfaces inangularly disposed planes and its center of gravity so located that,when subject to no pressure of the hand or other operating force, theflatiron quickly tilts until one of these work-engaging surfaces is infull contact with the work and the other surface is lifted entirely outof contact with the work. The surface which is automatically lifted inthis manner is, of course, the actual working surface of the iron andis, in the general case, a smooth surface formed upon the bottom of ametal sole plate.

That surface which engages the work When the iron is released is formedon the underside of a rearward extension of the iron which may bedesignated a rear portion or heel and which is fabricated of material oflow h'eat conductivity. Its temperature at no time rises to such an eX-tent that contact between this portion of the iron and the work canresult in injury to the work. in order that this highly desirable resultmay be obtained without unduly increasing the weight of the fiatiron asa whole the forward portion thereof, which includes the sole plate, theheating element, the covering shell or casing, and the major portion ofthe handle, is constructed as lightly as possible consistent with'necessary strength and ability to communicate heat to the work. Theseveral metallic parts are preferably formed by stamping or pressingmetal sheets and the handle portion is preferably fabricated of aplastic material and is entirely hollow. In addition, the electricalheating means which is associated with the sole plate is constructed toweigh' as little as possible. The thermostatic control for the heatingmeans is so designed that it may be located principally in the rear orheel portion of the iron. The conduits for supplying electrical currentare brought into the iron toward the rear of the h'eel portion thereofand the heel itself is made relatively solid so as to provide thenecessary weight, a small added weight being inserted in this portion ofthe iron, if necessary, to effect the overbalancing movement.

The thermostatic control means is of novel character and may, ifdesired, be employed in association with electric irons other than ironsof the up-tilting type. It embodies relatively movable contacts andmeans including an adjusting disc for modifying the relative positionsof these contacts, the contacts being wholly housed within a recessformed in the flatiron and the disclike adjusting member likewise beingso housed, its periphery only being accessible to the fingers of theoperator.

Within the import; of the invention various modified forms of iiatironsmay be designed and constructed, one such embodiment being illustratedin th'e accompanying drawings by way of example.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view of the ilatiron from the side portion thereof, beingshown in elevation and the remainder in axial section, the iron beingshown, in full lines, with its heated surface in work.- engagingposition and, in 'dotted lines, with its unheated surface inwork-engaging position;

Figure 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Figure l;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of portion of the thermostatic controlmeans; and

Figure 6 is a diagram showing the circuit through the heating element ofthe iron and through the automatic temperature control device.

When the flatiron is disposed as it is shown in full lines in thisfigure, with the undersurface of its sole plate l2 in contact with thework, which is in the position which the atiron occupies when theoperator is pressing downwardly upon the handle I3, the rearwardly andupwardly inclined surface if? of the rear portion or heel is disposed atan acute angle to the horizontal. rlihis is the working position of theiron and that pore tion thereof which lies vertically above the soleplate and is indicated by the numeral I3 may be said to comprise theforward portion of the iron, whereas, that portion i which liesvertically above the inclined work-engaging face I4 comprises the rearportion or heel of the iron. The iron is so designed that the center ofgravity lies vertically above the surface I4 and so, when the handle i3is released, the iron automatically moves into the position in which itis shown in dotted lines.

The sole plate i2 is preferably formed by pressing or stamping sheetsteel or other metal and likewise the shell 55 which overyies the soleplate and is secured thereby by a plurality of elongated screws mayadvantageously be fabricated by stamping or pressing sheet metal. Thehandle I3 is hollow as shown and is preferably formed of a suitableplastic material of low heat conductivity. At its forward end it isattached to the shell 4E by means of bracket members E1 which projectdownwardiy from the undersurface of the handle, through slots ld formedin the shell E5, into position to engage the undersurface of the topwall of the shell. The rear end of handle I3 is attached, as by means ofa securing screw 0, to a heel part 2l shaped as shown in the drawings,this heel part having a forward extension which is secured, as by meansof a screw 22, to the shell and which is hollowed out to provide arecess lid for the major portion of the thermostatic control The block2l is fabricated of a material or low heat conductivity, preferably aplastic material which may be molded. The recess 2id formed in block Elis closed from below by a block 22 which is not only of low heatconductivity, but is also of high dielectric strength,

block being secured in the position in which it is shown in the drawingsby means of the screws 23 and 2d. As constructed, therefore, theflatiron comprises ve principal elements rigidly connected together, ie., the sole plate i2, shell l5, handle i3, rear or heel block 2i, andinsert 22. The metallic sole plate and she-ll are relatively thin and oflight weight, likewise the handle i3, while those portions of theFlatiron which lie within the limits of the rear or heel part arerelatively heavy` IThe heating element is of known type and is generallyindicated at 2?, being 'ghtly secured upon the upper surface of the soleplate l2. As shown in Figure 4 the heating element is cut away toreceive a rectangular bi-metallic thermostatic member 33, one end ofwhich is attached directly to the sole plate E2, as by screws 3l, andthe other end of which is provided with a pad 32. The bi-metallicthermostatic member 30 is so de signed that the pad 32 will be elevatedwith in- 4 crease in temperature of the sole plate and will be loweredwith decrease of temperature.

Means is provided for interrupting the low of current to the heatingelement 21 when pad 32 rises higher than a predetermined position andfor reestablishing the flow of current to the heating element when thepad 32 descends below such position. This means includes contact membersor buttons 34 and 35. Contact 35 is mounted upon a vertically disposedresilient blade member 36 the lower end of which is fastened to theblock 22 by means of a screw 31. Contact member 34 is mounted upon theadjustable element 38 disposed axially of the iron and extending throughthe annular insulating bushing 43 set into a circular opening in thespring-like member or blade 3S. The rearwardly extending horizontalportion of element 38 is threaded and this portion has threadedengagement with a sleeve 42 which extends axially through the hub of anadjusting disc 43. Reduced axial extensions of the hub of adjustingmember 43 are rotatably supported in aligned apertures formed in theupper ends of the parallel upwardly extending arms of a U-shaped yokemember 4d, the arrangement being such that member 43 may revolve aboutthe axis of member 33, the sleeve 42 rotating with member 43 at lalltimes. Element 38 is held against rotation by means of a spring blade45, the lower end of this spring blade being attached to the U-shapedbracket 44 and the upper end thereof entering a vertical notch formed inthe rear end of element 38. Element 33, therefore, is restrained againstrotation at all times but may be axially adjusted by rotation of theadjusting disc 43, and, by rotating the disc 23, the relative positionsof the contact buttons 34 and 35 may be changed at any time. Theadjusting disc 43 is dielectric material, preferably a molded plastic.

It will be observed that the vertical leg of an L-shaped member 41 isattached to the upwardly projecting flange l2a of the sole plate bymeans of a screw 48 and that the forwardly and horizontally extendingleg of member' 41 has adjustably mounted upon its extreme end thevertically disposed screw 50. The lower end of screw 50 rests at alltimes upon the pad 32 of the thermostatic member 33, member 41 beinginitially ten sioned s0 that such contact is maintained. The rear faceof the vertical leg of member 41 rests against the forward face of thevertical member 36 previously referred to and, member 35 being flexible,it is clear that upward movement of pad 32 will so act upon screw 5D andmember 41 that the upright spring member 4B will be flexed rearwardly,contact 35 being moved out of contact with member 34. When this occursilow of current to the heating element 21 is interrupted, as will beclear from an inspection of the diagram in Figure 6 of the drawings.When the sole plate cools and thermostatic member 31 descends theresilient member 33 will return contact 35 to original position, so thatit engages contact 34, and the ilow of current to the heating element isreestablished. As will be seen from an inspection of Figures l, 3 and 6the main or conduit 60 leading from a suitable source of current supplyhas its end connected to the U-shaped supporting bracket 44. The end ofthe conduit 6l is connected directly to the heating element. The cablefor connecting the atiron to a source of electric current is indicatedat 63 and a. conventional resilient device for protecting itis indicatedat 64.

Various expedients may be adopted in order to obtain the desiredunbalance of the forward and rear portions of the iron. Light materialsare utilized in the construction of such forward portion and heaviermaterials in the fabrication of the rear portion or heel. The heavierparts of the electrical connections and control devices are mounted, sofar as possible, in the heel, and it is particularly helpful to mountthe thermostatic adjusting means in this portion of the iron. Sopositioned, the adjusting disc 43 is accessible to the thumb of theuse-r and may be readily turned as desired. It is, however, practicallyinvisible to the observer and does not detract from the appearance ofthe flatiron.

Naturally minor rearrangements of the various i component elements ofthe invention may be made, when desired, while maintaining its adnvantages.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Let ters Patent is:

1. A ilatiron having forward and rear portions provided, respectively,with work-engaging surfaces disposed in intersecting planes, the weightof the iron being so distributed that the workengaging surface of therear portion normally engages the work and the Work-engaging surface ofthe forward portion is lifted out of contact with the work, andelectrical heating means including a heating element mounted Wholly onthe forward portion and a thermostatic control device for regulating theheating action of said heating means, said device having a manuallyoperable adjusting element, the rear portion of the iron having a recessformed therein, opening to a side surface thereof, within which saidadjusting element is housed.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which said adjusting elementcomprises a disc mounted for rotation about an axis extendinglongitudinally of the iron, the rear portion of the iron having a recessformed therein, opening to a side surface thereof, within which saidadjusting element is housed, the outer elements of the said elementbeing accessible to the operator.

3. A atiron having an electrical heating element and a thermostaticcontrol device, said device comprising separable contacts, a movablesupport for one such contact, and an adjusting disc having threadedconnection with said support, said disc being housed within a recess inthe flatiron- EARL MARTIN SCHARA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,414,007 Berwick Apr. 25, 19222,256,147 Kuhn et al Sept. 16, 1941 2,277,439 Jepson Mar. 24, 19422,286,487 Huffman June 16, 1942 2,333,521 Clark et al NOV. 2, 19432,184,270 Campbell Dec. 26, 1939 1,965,746 Matveyef July 10, 19341,566,618 Runsvold Dec. 22, 1925 1,469,727 Jermin Oct. 2, 1923 1,138,841Braun May 11, 1915 1,247,907 Tully Nov. 27, 1917 852,537 Barr May 7,1907

